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(meteorobs) AUR max night a success: Also DAU outburst?!
Last night turned out to be miraculously clear here in cloud-ridden New England. Fellow meteorobs'er Steve Harrison and I met in person for the first time, deciding during the evening's "#namn" IRC chat to get together for a look at the Alpha Aurigid maximum under dark skies!
We met at the ATMs of Boston observing site in Westford, MA at around 1am. Skies were clear the entire night, though with slightly increasing haze toward morning - haze seems ubiquitous in Boston these days! Steve is new to visual observing, being a long-time Ham operator, but he was an *extremely* fast learner, and showed himself to possess surprising visual acuity in the joint star counts we tried. Congratulations on getting out for your first "Teff", Steve! Looking forward to many more hours to come. :)
I observed from 5:23 to 8:10 UT (Teff = 2.6 hours) under skies that varied from Limiting Magnitude 6.2 to 6.9 (average LM 6.7). Temperatures for the morning hovered in the low 50s F, with relative humidity a sopping 75%. Dead time of 20 seconds deducted per meteor, for recording and discussion.
Our best meteor of the night was a fortuitous catch deep in the trees to the Northeast at 06:48:33 UT. I saw this as a -4 medium to medium-slow sporadic with 2 second train, showing a lovely green white color, while Steve saw blue and logged it as somewhat brighter.
Certainly the most surprising event of the evening for me though were the large number of apparent *Delta Aurigids* (DAUs) noted - 5! This is extraordinary for two reasons: first, DAUs do not peak until Sept 8/9, and then produce a ZHR of no more than 6. Second, they are not even considered *active* by IMO until September 5! Unfortunately Steve and I were describing meteors ("counting") rather than plotting; however, my Center of Field was chosen to give me an excellent angle for distinguishing DAUs from either the Alpha Aurigids or any possible Perseid stragglers. I'd be curious to hear if others saw any indications of this activity?
(By the way, Malcolm, if I am *somehow* blessed with more clear skies this week, which IMO Telescopic Meteor plotting charts do you suggest be used to study this DAU-complex activity more closely?)
Total meteors: 38, Teff=2.6, F=1.0, LM=6.7, CFV=23h+50.
Sporadics 20, AUR 7, DAU 5, KCG 2, NIA 3, SPI 1.
Full IMO reports for Steve and myself to follow.
Clear skies all!
Lew